Bearding Bearded Dragon

[suesriharan]

I am a new bearded dragon owner, and have had my beardie for a week now. When I bought him, he was very kind and let me pet him or pick him up whenever. He froze when I came near, but never showed any signs of aggression. Yesterday I held him for the first time since moving him to his final spot as I wanted him to get used to his new area before I picked him up again. He was extremely squirmy, but I did my best to keep him out. But today when I went near him, for the first time he turned black and actually puffed out his body and beard at me a few times. I am not sure how to handle this, as I don't want to try picking him up while he is doing this in fear he may try biting me.

What should I do so he doesn't do this? Is there a reason this behavior would have just begun? I did give him a bath yesterday and he didn't sit still for a second of it. Please help. He is about 3 years according to the pet store. Yesterday he was eating from my hands and today he just stared at it and started puffing and turning black.

 

[DC27]

I'm new to this site but not entirely new to beardies. I would go in from the side and try your best to gently pick him up when he does that. My new guy has done that a couple times to me and I just went ahead and picked him up anyway. You have to teach him that you're not going to hurt him and show him you're not scared of his display of aggression as well.

Also, if it's only been a week he may still be going through relocation stress. So he may still be grumpy. It can sometimes take a couple weeks for them to calm down after moving to a new place.

I hope this helps